A Circuit Court jury has acquitted a man accused of shooting his ex-girlfriend to death as she sat in her car in Ewa in 2009.

Defendant Toi A. Nofoa wept and hugged his sister and friends after the jury returned the verdict Wednesday afternoon.

"We’ve come a long way. We’ve been praying," said his sister Mao Nofoa. "I have never lost faith."

Nofoa, 34, had been charged with first-degree murder because the victim, Royal Kaukani, was scheduled to be a witness against him in a kidnapping and terroristic threatening case. The jury acquitted him of the murder charge and two related firearms charges.

Nofoa was taken away by deputy sheriffs after hearing the verdict.

He is still being held on separate charges stemming from an incident in 2008 for allegedly kidnapping and threatening Kaukani with a firearm.

The jury, which had deliberated since Friday, "worked really hard," said Nofoa’s attorney, Craig Nagamine.

Residents in the Ewa by Gentry neighborhood said they saw a man standing outside Kaukani’s vehicle on March 17, 2009, after hearing what they later realized was a gunshot.

They said after hearing a second gunshot, they saw the man step away from her vehicle and drive off on a motorcycle.

Nagamine, a deputy public defender, said the prosecution did not present physical evidence to show Nofoa shot Kaukani.

Nagamine said the state’s evidence was circumstantial and hinged on the questionable testimony of Nofoa’s brother, Richard Taifane.

City Deputy Prosecutor Maurice Arrisgado said he thought the jury rendered a "horrible verdict."

"I think this is a travesty of justice. … I thought there was more than enough evidence," Arrisgado said.

Arrisgado said the prosecution was unable to introduce important evidence during the trial, including numerous assaults upon Kaukani by Nofoa and a statement from her about how Nofoa had threatened her with a black revolver and kidnapped her from her workplace in Haleiwa on Sept. 11, 2008.

Kaukani was able to escape that incident with the help of people at a gas station.

Arrisgado said Nofoa killed Kaukani to prevent her from testifying in the kidnapping trial.

Arrisgado said the prosecution plans to bring Nofoa to trial on the kidnapping-related charges.

The charges include kidnapping with a firearm, a charge that carries a maximum of 20 years in prison upon conviction, Arrisgado said.

Nofoa is scheduled to go to trial in March 2012 on charges including kidnapping and terroristic threatening.